A Brainy Idea

Sometimes I hate my brain. Like . . . when I’m trying to fall asleep and it just won’t shut down. And then I’m finally on the cusp of sleep and this SNI (shiny new idea) pops into my head and it won’t leave me alone until I grab the notebook and pen that I wisely keep at my bedside and write it down.

Like one night last week. Just as I’m about to fall asleep, this line pops into my head. A woman’s voice asks, “So, are you a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster too?” And just like that an idea for a story followed. Just what I need, another idea. At least it’s for a short story.

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me. I’d say it’s maybe because once you star winding down it sets your subconscious loose, but according to studies, you subconscious mind is most active when you first wake up. You’ve probably heard that if you don’t remember your dreams within the first minute or two of waking you won’t remember them at all, this is why.

Maybe I’m just an exception to the rule. All I know is, I’ve learned the value of keeping a notebook handy when I go to bed. Trust me, no matter how brilliant the idea you have while you’re drifting off, the best you can hope for if you don’t write it down is a vague recollection in the morning.

And remember how a couple of weeks ago I posted the beginning of my first (as yet unfinished) NaNo novel? Well now I keep getting ideas for it, too. And I mean good ideas. I have to keep fighting the urge to pull it out of mothballs and have at it again.

I have six or eight different versions of it on the go, but I keep thinking I could take what I’ve learned over the past 12 or 14 years and start it from scratch, making it into the novel it was meant to be.

But no, I’m supposed to be working on Knightsong. Never mind that I only have a vague notion of where it’s going, it’s the one I’m going to take with me to the writing retreat. I need to focus on getting this one finished first.

Shouldn’t I?

On the other hand, if Driving Into Forever is what my mind is set on, maybe I should just roll with it before my mind says, “Fine, if you’re not going to listen to me, let’s just stick to reading.” Knightsong is uncharted territory for me. Driving Into Forever is better thought out. AND I have a sequel to it waiting for the first book to be done, plus ideas for two more.

*sigh*

Sometimes I really hate the way my brain works.

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Wordage Report

New Words:
Blog Posts – 672+369+362+486=1,889
Total = 1889

I’m down about 1,400 words from last week’s total which is especially disappointing because the only words I wrote were on blog posts – no fictional words at all. I may have added a few words to Blood Ties whilst editing, but not enough to take note of and they were probably balanced by the number I deleted.

Editing:
6 hours on Blood Ties. Looks like I’m picking up speed. About time, isn’t it?

Publishing:
None. And I still haven’t heard back about the last story I sent out.

What I’m Reading:
Once again, this is where most of my time went. And I fully admit that it involved a couple of late nights where I read until my eyes burned.

I finished the Chosen. by J.R. Ward and went on to read Blood Fury, the Thief, Prisoner of Night and the Savior. Now I’m currently reading Blood Truth. I really have to slow down (and you can see how that went last week) because I only have three books to go before I have to wait for the one still on order to be delivered, then there’s only one left until I’m done. The next one comes out in April, but sorry/not sorry I’m not buying it in hardback, I’ll wait until it’s available in paperback, thankyouverymuch. And if I can’t extract myself from the BDB universe while I wait, I might just have to go back and start the series from book one again.

Goals

Last week’s goals were again pretty much a bust. No words on anything except blog posts, no outlining, no organizing. I did get some editing done on Blood Ties at least, so there’s that.

My goal for this week is to stop messing around and get myself back on track. Sooner or later I’m going to be out of books to read and then where will I be? So. On that note, I want to:
1. Spend more time in my office and less on the couch.
2. Keep up the edits on Blood Ties.
3. Limit my reading time.

Baby steps perhaps, but hopefully steps in the right direction

Renovation in the Time of Covid

This week would have been the week my poetry group met so we could share some poetry. Unfortunately, Ontario is still on lock down so we couldn’t meet in person. There was a zoom meeting, which I wasn’t able to participate in because I can’t get the camera in my lap top to work. Guess I did too good a job disabling it when I set this computer up.

Anyway, I’m kind of bummed I couldn’t because the “poemwork” for the month was a challenge to write a Xenolith. What’s a Xenolith you ask? It’s a poetry form I created several years ago. It has 15 lines – 7 of them have 12 syllables per line, 8 of them have 8 syllables per line. You can separate the 7 lines from the 8 lines and have two, separate, shorter poems, but put them together and you have a poem within a poem, or a Xenolith.

You can find a longer explanation about it  HERE or you can do a Google search for Xenolith poetry form. How cool is that that it’s feature on other poetry sites? To be honest, I think my original Xenolith was a little smoother, but after much tweaking, this one isn’t bad.

And yes, those rocks below are Xenoliths - a rock within another rock (which is where I got the idea for the poetry form from).

Renovation in the Time of Covid

Our kitchen is a mess and needs to be redone
A subtle thing, how it began
Plans were made, deposit down, this should be real fun
A global challenge was not planned
Empty cupboards, empty shelves, fill bins by the ton
Panic shopping, growing unease
With shortages, stay at home please
Some days we think the contractor will never come
The schools all close, your business too
Wear a mask and stand in a queue
Boxes fill our living room – it’s no longer fun
Vaccines arrive, still numbers rise
Out of stock and back orders leave us rather stunned
This lock down will save many lives
It looks as though our kitchen never will be done


12 syllable mono rhyme – the renovation

Our kitchen is a mess and needs to be redone
Plans were made, deposit down, this should be real fun
Empty cupboards, empty shelves, fill bins by the ton
Some days we think the contractor will never come
Boxes fill our living room – it’s no longer fun
Out of stock and back orders leave us rather stunned
It looks as though our kitchen never will be done

8 syllable rhyming couplets – the Covid

A subtle thing, how it began
A global challenge was not planned
Panic shopping, growing unease
With shortages, stay at home please
The schools all close, your business too
Wear a mask and stand in a queue
Vaccines arrive, still numbers rise
This lock down will save many lives.

Superstitions XIV – Odds ‘N Ends

One of our most enduring superstitions is making a wish and blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. If you can blow them all out in one breath, your wish will come true. The ancient Greeks would bake round honey cake and top it with candles, symbolizing the moon, as an offering to the goddess Artemis when they wished her favour. It was believed the lingering smoke would carry wishes to the gods as it rose in the air.

You should never place two mirrors facing each other. The infinite reflections are pretty cool, but facing mirrors open a doorway for the devil.

Never give a blade as a gift as it will sever your relationship. If you receive a knife, or even a pair of scissors, as a gift, you need to give the giver a coin in return.

Going home directly after a funeral will invite a bad spirit to tag along and enter your home. You should make a stop at a restaurant or store along the way, just in case.

Whistling indoors is thought to summon demons.

Greek mythology has it that if you toast with a cup of water you’re actually wishing death upon the people you’re drinking with.

It’s bad luck to place someone’s shoes on a table as it used to be of the ways of letting the family know they had passed away. .

The Egyptians believe that if you see or hear an owl it means terrible news is coming. The Italians, however, believe that an owl in your house means someone is going to die.

Wedding bells are meant to ward off evil spirits who might try and ruin the marriage.

Singing at the dinner table means you’re singing to the devil for your food.

Some people hold their breath when they pass a cemetery, but you should actually tuck your thumbs in to protect your parents from death.

Be careful not to step on a manhole that has the letter A on it or it will bring you a broken heart and bad luck.

Never cut your nails after the sun goes down – it can cause premature death.

Binging is Not Just For Netflix

There comes a time when you have to face the truth, and my truth is that I can no longer blame the weather and/or the pandemic for my lack of progress. Now I can blame J.R. Ward. LOL

Okay, not really. If I hadn’t fallen behind in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series to begin with, I wouldn’t be feeling the urge to binge read to catch up now. It’s kind of reminiscent of my binge reading last year, isn’t it?

As you may recall, last year I started out on the Argeneau Vampire series by Lynsay Sands, and when I ran out of them I went on a Nora Roberts binge. Wow she’s written a lot of books, and thanks to shopping on Indigo online, I now own most of them. In trade sized paperback no less.

It took me until about August before my interest in Nora’s books began to wane (she does write a nice variety so they’re not all the same). In fact, I still have a few unread ones in my stack. Then I went on a Charles de Lint kick, re-reading most of my collection of his books, with several Alice Hoffman books thrown in at random. FYI Magic Lessons is so much better than Practical Magic, which I probably would have enjoyed more if I hadn’t seen the movie first.

I’ve got eight more books in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series to go, and after that it’s anyone’s guess what I’ll be binging on. Maybe Katie MacAlister – I have most of both her vampire series and her dragon series.

Most people prefer to binge watching television or videos, but with me it’s books. That’s not to say I haven’t done my fair share of binge watching Stranger Things, or Game of Thrones, or disaster movies, but nothing makes me happier than a stack of books and uninterrupted time to read them.

What about you? Binge watching or binge reading?

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Wordage Report

New Words:
Blood Ties – 620
Blog Posts – 616+408+693+988=2,695
Total = 3315

When you see the numbers for the blog posts, you might be fooled into thinking I made most of my “write 500 words a day” goal from last week. But although in the one sense it’s nice to see some actual numbers, I actually meant new fictional words, so only the words on Blood Ties count.

And alas I did no freewriting last week because I was too busy reading.

Editing:
2 hours and 35 minutes on Blood Ties

Publishing:
None

What I’m Reading:
Once again, this was my strong suit for the week. I didn’t get much further on the Kindle, but I really went to town on the tree books.

I finished the Shadows. by J.R. Ward (so sad!) and went on to read Blood Kiss, the Beast, and Blood Vow. Now I’m currently reading the Chosen and trying to go a little more slowly so I don’t spend the majority of my writing time reading instead.

Goals

Last week’s goals were kind of a bust. The daily words, editing, and reading should be a given if I’m seriously trying to get into a routine, so the only real goal was the submitting a story or poem for publishing, which I didn’t even really give a thought to.

Maybe I need to start smaller. Instead of four goals, I have just one, doable goal. Get an outline of some kind drawn up for Knightsong so I can start making some progress on it. This was the book beginning I was originally going to take to the Spring Thaw writer’s retreat in spring of 2020. The current date it’s been rescheduled for is October 2021 – it would be really nice to have the first draft finished by then, don’t you think?

Let’s get writing.

Driving Into Forever

I kind of had fun sharing an excerpt one of my former NaNos and I thought why not do it again? And seeing as I’ve participated in NaNo 13 times, I have potentially 13 weeks worth of excerpts. Actually, I have 15, if you count the two novels I started, then abadoned, before going on to win with something else.

So, going back to the beginning, today’s offering is from Driving Into Forever, which was my first attempt (and only failure) at NaNo in 2006. The story was done in 35,000 words and although the idea was solid enough, the execution was pretty iffy.

The problem was my main character, Hannah. I was pretty meh about her and it showed. I’ve since tried to rewrite it several times, but in the long run I’ve only made things worse. I haven’t given up on it though, and one of these days I hope to get it right.

This scene isn’t quite the beginning, but it’s close. The main character, Hannah, is returning home after spending the night at her friend Sara’s. They’re in a local orchestra together and went out drinking after practice. The rest is kind of self-explanatory.

The fog wasn’t as bad at street level as it looked from above. The air was still cold though, and very damp. She hummed the piece they’d been practicing last night as she walked back to her car. It was a new piece and a little more challenging than they usually tried.

Her rag top jeep looked out of place in the parking lot, parked between a brand new Lexus and last year’s Mercedes. Old and beat up it might be, but Hannah would take her jeep over a new car any time. It was one hundred percent reliable, starting no matter what the weather conditions. Old enough to get great gas mileage, it was also built sturdy enough to take the abuse the drive to her house dished out. But the best part of all was the kick-ass stereo system the kid she bought it from had installed, complete with CD player.

She tossed her flute case on top of the pile of CDs on the passenger seat and backed carefully out of the parking space. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the way out of the city, nor was highway 37 busy. Hannah hadn’t lied when she said she loved driving in the fog, especially when the traffic was light. The highway went up and down like a roller coaster. When she was on top of a hill it was like she was by herself on top of the world and when she drove back down into the mist it was like driving into forever.

Chopin was blaring from the stereo speakers as she turned onto the road to the causeway. The road was nowhere near as bad as Sara claimed. It might not be paved, but it was kept in very good repair. The wealthy home owners at the end of the causeway saw to that. And the causeway itself was only half a mile long, tops.

Hannah had inherited her house from her favorite Aunt, a retired music teacher from whom she also inherited her love of music. It was a raised bungalow with a wrap-around deck and a hundred and thirty-five feet of frontage on the lake. There were only a dozen or so houses on the island, set amongst the trees, all meant to be permanent homes. Most of the other owners, however, went south for the winter.

The fog was denser here than on the highway but Hannah drove confidently. This stretch of road was pretty much straight to the causeway. There was a yellow, greenish cast to the fog, reminding Hannah of the miasma that the swamp gave off on early, hot summer mornings. It was starting to give her the creeps. She shivered and turned the stereo up a notch.

More than ever Hannah was grateful she was in her jeep. The fog was getting denser, even though she was driving through the woods, and the colour was deepening. They must have gotten snow out here last night, it didn’t feel like she was driving on gravel anymore. At least she knew she was still on the road. The trees were dense enough that if she’d left the road she’d have hit something by now.

Hannah checked the speedometer and let up on the gas. She was already going slower than she usually drove, but it still felt too fast. The tires didn’t feel like they were getting any traction and she seemed to be accelerating. The fog was all around her, Hannah took her foot of the gas altogether and started braking. Chopin gave way to Mozart but for the first time the music failed to soothe her.

It was impossible, but she was picking up speed. Hannah turned the four-way flashers on and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Shapes started to form in front of her, too indistinct to make out. Shrubs? trees? buildings? There was a lurch and suddenly the ground was solid again but rough and uneven.

Why did she have the sensation of going downhill, there wasn’t a hill for miles around here. The fog thinned out just enough for Hannah to see she was indeed going downhill at an impossible speed and angle. The sparse brush she ploughed through did little to slow her down. She wrenched the steering wheel left, then sharply right, trying to avoid the trees that seemed to jump out in front of her.

Finally came the tree she couldn’t avoid and she hit it dead on. The impact snapped her forward, then back but the seatbelt held. The jeep’s engine stalled, but the four-way flashers blinked regularly and the CD player played on. Nothing else moved as the eerie mist began filling the car.

Superstitions XIII - Luck

Good Luck

Luck from a wishbone dates back to the Etruscans, who used chickens to predict the future. They believed the collarbone, or wishbone, of the chicken was sacred and would dry them in the sun to keep for luck. To share the luck they would break them apart. The person who gets the biggest piece gets the bigger share of the luck, or wish.

If you say “rabbit rabbit” on the first day of the month, it ensures good luck for the month. It’s a little unclear why this is a common belief in Britain and North America, but it’s also believed that a rabbit’s foot (the left hind foot) is also lucky.

Crossing your fingers to bring good dates back to early Christianity. Two people would cross index fingers, making a cross, when making a wish, the one in support of the other. Anything associated with the shape of the cross was considered lucky. In time crossing fingers for luck became something someone could do on their own.

While accidentally stepping in dog poop might seem like a bad thing, it’s only bad luck if you step with your right foot. If you step with your left foot it’s considered lucky.

Bird poop is also considered lucky, especially if it lands on you, your home, or your car. It signifies money will be coming your way.

In Spain, instead of kissing someone at midnight on New Year’s, you should eat twelve grapes one after another to bring good luck for the year.

Once upon a time, it was considered extremely lucky to get your hands on a piece of the bride. To keep the dress and veil in one piece, brides began throwing their bouquets in the air to distract the crazed guests. Today it’s believed that whoever catches the bridal bouquet will be lucky in love and the next one to marry.

A belief in beginner’s luck is an example of confirmation bias. This is a psychological condition where a person believes events that fit their world view. If they believe they are going to win because they’re a beginner, they’re more likely to remember all the times this was true in the past and forget the times they lost.

Bad Luck

Bad luck coming in threes is another example of confirmation bias. If something goes wrong, you begin to look for other bad things to happen and ignore the good.

Walking into a room with your left foot is bad luck – you should always enter or leave a room with your right.

You should never wish someone a happy birthday before the day arrives or it will cause bad luck.

Opening an umbrella indoors has been thought to bring bad luck since the time of the pharaohs. The parasols ancient Egyptians used were believed to be magic because they protected them from the sun. When one is opened indoors, out of the sun’s rays, it offends the sun god and incurs bad luck.

A flock of birds going from left to right means that bad luck is on the way.

The Greeks find Tuesday the most unlucky day of the week, but especially Tuesday the 13th. It was on Tuesday 13, 1204 that Constantinople fell to the Crusaders.

But they’re not the only ones who have a thing about Tuesday. Many countries in Latin America believe you shouldn’t get married, go on a trip, or leave your house on a Tuesday because you’re sure to have bad luck.

In Italy it’s considered bad luck to lay bread upside down on a table or in a basket. Bread represents the body of Christ and therefore needs to be treated with respect.

According to Welsh tradition, it is unlucky to cut a baby’s fingernails before they’re six months old. The mother should bite them off instead.

The Japanese believe that sleeping with your head to the north is bad luck because that's how the deceased are laid to rest. The same superstition exists in Africa for sleeping with your head to the west.

Better not take any chances and sleep with your head to the south or east tonight.

Pleasant dreams!

Pandemic Complaints

Well . . . so much for routines and progress and getting things done. Ontario, where I live, is on lockdown again. And not just any old lockdown, this time it’s super duper double lockdown with a state of emergency tacked on just for fun.

This pandemic is getting kind of annoying. And the people who haven’t been follow the rules, like all those out-of-towners from the hot zones that snuck into our town to do their Christmas shopping are really annoying.

I ‘d better stop there before this turns into a rant. You’re welcome. LOL

On top of the lockdown, the weather has been unrelentingly grey and dismal. My solar batteries are completely depleted and according to the long-range forecast, I can’t expect a recharge any time soon. So I’ve got a double whammy I’m having to deal with.

But at least I’m not living in the U.S. where they have the Trumpocalypse to deal with too. So I guess there’s that little bright spot.

All of this is a rather long-winded way of saying I didn’t get a whole lot done last week. It’s a small comfort to know I’m not alone in this. Several of the writing blogs I follow haven’t been updated in a while, and many of the ones that have are variations on a theme – inspiration is at a low ebb these days.

But I’m not without hope. At least I’ve been getting my blog posts done (eventually), and seeing as shockwave is no longer supported, half the mindless games I used to play are gone. There may be hope for me yet. LOL

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Wordage Report

New Words:
None, unless you count the ones I added to Blood Ties during editing, but I didn’t keep track of what I’ve added/deleted.

I did do a couple of the 3-minute freewrites but kept forgetting about it.

Editing:
I did do some editing done on Blood Ties last week, but a little less than 2 hours.

Publishing:
I picked out a story to spiff up, and I’ve even figured out where to send it, but that’s as far as I got.

What I’m Reading:
This is the one thing I did well on. I finished book one of Shifter Shenanigans by Shelley Munro on my Kindle, and I’ve started book two. By rights I should have finished that one as well, but like I’ve said I usually read the ebooks on while on the exercise bike and well, you can figure that one out for yourself.

I received about 5 more of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J. R. Ward that I ordered from Indigo (before they gave me a 20% off coupon code), so I think I need to start reading a little faster – these are big books. I finished the King and I’m about halfway through the next one, the Shadows.

Goals

Yeah, I know I said last week I wasn’t going to do the goals thing, but I’m thinking maybe it might help me stay focused – I’d really have to report a complete failure at the end of the week. So, here are my goals for next week:

1. 500 words a day.
2. Editing for 1 hour a day.
3. Prepare and submit 1 story or poem.
4. Read for 1 hour a day.

I think that’s a pretty good start, and I can adjust it weekly.

Guardian of the Sea

While I did several daily three minute free-writes this week, none of them really turned my crank enough to turn into a proper flash. Okay, maybe I could have generated enough interest in one or two of them to turn them into stories, but the weather’s been pretty grey and miserable lately and my solar batteries are completely deleted.

I thought you might like something a little different this week, so I looked through some of my older, yet still unfinished, novels and settled on an excerpt from Guardian of the Sea, my NaNo novel from 2014. This is a paranormal romantic suspense and I forgot how much I liked the story. Too bad I already have enough irons in the fire for now. :-D

The except is the opening of chapter one (which I’d forgotten I’d changed) and is pretty self-explanatory.

"Happy Birthday, Tiamat," Samuel Griffin, Griff to his friends, said. He placed a small cake, in the shape of a dolphin, on the table in front of the boy and lit the candle.

"I'm too old for birthday cakes," the boy protested, but any fool could see he was pleased.

"You're never too old for birthday cakes, not even at the ripe old age of sixteen. Now make a wish and blow out the candle."

Grinning, the boy closed his eyes and made his wish, then blew the candle out.

"I'll bet I can guess what you wished for," the old man said shrewdly, eyes twinkling as the boy blushed. "Don't you worry, she'll be here at the end of the month, and they're letting her stay for the whole summer."

"Really?" Tiamat's eyes lit up. "Can I show her the grotto, Griff?"

"I don't see why not. Tavi's almost as good as I am at keeping secrets. In the meantime, she wanted me to give you this from her." He handed Tiamat a flat, square package wrapped in ocean blue paper and tied with a silver ribbon.

Tiamat turned the package carefully around and around in his hands before finally undoing the ribbon. Folding back the paper he rolled his eyes as he uncovered a flat box. Inside the box, beneath a layer of tissue paper, was a picture in a frame.

"I remember that day," the boy murmured. The picture was of him and a dark-haired girl two years younger than him, standing on a beach with an arm around each other's waist. Though the sky behind them was cloudy, a shaft of sunlight spilled over them. They both grinned at the camera, as though knowing they were about to be splashed by the wave behind them. The frame itself was imbedded with hundreds of white seashells - cowries, scallops, limpets.

"These came from the cove," he said, stroking them lightly.

"I've got something for you too." Samuel laid a cloth wrapped object on the table in front of him. Tiamat parted the folds of the cloth, then looked up in surprise.

"It belonged to your father," Samuel said gruffly. "I promised him I'd pass it on to you when I judged you ready."

"And you think I'm ready?"

"Every Guardian needs a good belt knife."

"I'm not a Guardian yet, Griff," Tiamat pointed out. He stroked the carved handle. Unable to resist, he pulled the knife out of its sheath. The hilt was carved from the ivory of a narwhale horn, the blade obsidian. It was older even than the house they were sitting in.

"No," Samuel said with a sigh. "But I don't mind telling you, I'll be glad when I can lay that particular burden at your feet."

"Has it really been that bad?"

"No," Sam admitted. "It hasn't. This coast is pretty quiet. But the changeling blood runs pretty thin in these old veins. The Guardianship would be better off with a full changeling."

"My dad didn't think so, that's why he passed the Guardianship to you."

"Only to keep in trust for you. Now, are we going to eat this cake, or just sit here admiring it?"

Superstitions XII – Ladders

Everybody knows it’s bad luck to walk under a ladder, but do you know why?

The oldest instance of this superstition comes to us from ancient Egypt. When a ladder leans against a wall it creates a triangular shape, like a pyramid. This shape was sacred to the Egyptians as it represented the trinity of the gods. To pass through a triangle was to desecrate it and incur the wrath of the gods.

The followers of Jesus Christ had a different take on this superstition, linking it to the death of Christ. Because a ladder had rested against the cross Jesus had been hung on, it became a symbol of wickedness, betrayal, and death. To walk under a ladder was to court misfortune.

The Holy Trinity of the Christians is made up of three parts – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – making the number three sacred. The triangle, having three sides, became sacred by association. As with the Egyptians, a ladder leaning up against a wall was seen as a triangle and to walk under the ladder, or through the triangle, was seen as breaking the Holy Trinity. Breaking the Holy Trinity was considered blasphemy and the person who did so was believed to be in league with the devil. This kind of label was a quick path to the witch trials and the hangman’s noose.

Before the creation of the gallows, murderers were hung from the top of a ladder. The ladder was propped up and the person being hung was made to climb up to the rope. After they died it was said that their ghost would remain after the body had fallen. This made the area around the ladder very unlucky.

There are, of course, more pedestrian reasons why walking under a ladder is unlucky. The presence of a ladder suggests someone is standing on it to do some work. You don’t want to walk under a ladder and have something fall on your head, nor would you want to risk jostling it and causing someone to fall.

But as with most superstitions, there are ways to reverse the bad luck:

- make a wish while you’re walking under the ladder.
- spit through the ladder’s rungs three times.
- walk backwards through the ladder again.
- cross your fingers until you see a dog.
- spit on your shoe and continue walking, but don’t look at your shoe again until the spit has dried.
- say “bread and butter” as you walk under the ladder.
- put your thumb between your index and middle fingers as you walk under the ladder (but be warned, this is called the “fig sign” and is sometimes seen as a mildly obscene gesture.

Or better yet, don’t take any chances and just avoid walking under a ladder in the first place.

And Away We Go . . .

I’m still messing around with a routine, trying to find something that works. I’m sure it would help if I spent more time in my office and less time on the couch playing online solitaire or Text Twist, but it is what it is. I’ll get there eventually.

You’re going to notice a bit of difference to the format of my weekly update. Seeing as the goals I’ve set myself for the year are pretty much ongoing, I thought I’d use them as the headers for my report – sort of.

Instead of “write more” I’ll keep “new words” from my old wordage report. This is where I’ll discuss the progress I’m making on my various projects, like Knightsong (which had no progress at all this week, other than an idea I jotted down in the dead of night).

Seeing as editing is going to play a big part of my goals for the year, it’s getting its own heading. This is where I’ll report on my progress (or lack thereof). Having to be accountable for my actions might be the incentive I need to be . . . active in this area.

I’ll also have a heading for publishing, and by publishing I mostly mean what I’m submitting and whether it’s accepted or rejected. Maybe I'll even get to brag at bit. But I also hope at some point to be able to announce Blood Ties is available.

And finally, I’m going to share what I’m reading. Once upon a time, on a different blog, I talked about what I was reading, and gave little reports on the books. This lead to people offering me free books, most of which I wasn’t interested in. Let me make this clear. I am NOT going to be reviewing books. I’ll tell you the name of the book, who wrote it, and just a general “I like it enough to read it to the end” or “it’s not my cup of tea so I switched to something else.”

We’ll try this new format for the month at least and see how it goes. And if it doesn’t feel right, or becomes too tedious, then I guess I’ll have to revisit it again.

Oh, and like I said at the beginning, the goals are kind of an ongoing thing, so I’m not going to bother setting any weekly ones. It seems a little redundant.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

New Words:
The first part of the week I wrote a 4500 word letter to my sister and updated my journals. Not exactly a great start to fulfilling my goals, but words are words, right? Then I found a market I wanted to try and I took an exercise from the Speculative Fiction course I took a couple of years ago and tried to turn it into a light and fluffy flash story.

It turned out okay, but it didn’t have a lot of substance. But in doing some research for it I came up with a much darker idea and ran with it. I really liked the way the new story turned out, all 850 words of it.

Despite all of my good intentions, I only did the three-minute freewritng twice last week. In the grand scheme of things, three minutes isn’t that long and I actually had fun doing them, so hopefully I’ll do more of them this week.

Editing:
Be still my heart I actually got some editing done on Blood Ties last week. According the TraxTime, the nifty little program I downloaded to keep track of how much time I spend on various projects, I spent 2 hours and 17 minutes. Not as much as I’d like, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Publishing:
The story I submitted before Christmas was rejected, which didn’t surprise me at all. The story was good, but the timing was at fault. It was about the side effects of the cure for a pandemic virus – not something anyone’s going to want to read currently.

Not to be discouraged, I submitted the flash piece I just finished to an online magazine that had a limited window for submission. I should hear back from them by the end of the month.

What I’m Reading:
After an extended hiatus, I’m back on the bike which means my poor neglected Kindle is seeing some action again. This week it’s Shifter Shenanigans by Shelley Munro. It’s a three book set and so far I’ve only finished the first one, which was about a panther shifter, and I’m really enjoying it.

As for tree books, I’ve ventured back into the realm of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series by J.R. Ward. I read the first 11 books before moving on to other things, but kept buying them as they were published so I was able to pick up where I left off. Right now I’m halfway through the King and while I’m liking what I’m reading, I’m also struggling to remember events from the previous books to keep things in perspective.

And So It Begins . . .

The new year has barely started and I’m already not meeting my own expectations. Yes, I know it’s still early yet, and I’m having a bit of trouble settling into a routine. It might help if I spent more time in my office and less time on the couch (with my lap top, mind you).

But the idea was to do the three minute free write every morning and if I didn’t generate something that inspired me to turn it into flash piece, then I was going to use the best of them as my fiction Friday offerings. Problem is, I only free wrote once this past week.

So once again I’m giving you a snippet from Knightsong. This one will give you a little more insight into the life of Elijah’s neighbor. She’s just returned home after having visited Eli to tell him what happened when she and her husband visited the city.

Shaelynn hurried up the steps to her house. She’d only meant to stay a minute, hopefully Parker was still sleeping.

“Where have you been?” Parker barked, the minute she had the door open. His wheelchair was parked in the middle of the living room.

“I just stepped out for a minute—”

“You were at that fag’s house, weren’t you?” Parker wheeled himself closer. “What if I’d needed you? You’re such a selfish bitch, always thinking of yourself.”

“I’m sorry Parker, I thought you were sleeping.”

“I’m sorry Parker,” he mimicked. “A fat lot of good sorry would have done me if I’d taken a seizure or fallen out of bed.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “A seizure! Parker, the doctor never said anything about seizures to me. Are you all right?”

“Of course I’m all right! No thanks to you. And the doctor never said anything because I told him not to. I didn’t want to worry you. Not that you worry about me.”

“That’s not true Parker, I do worry about you.”

Parker refused to be mollified. “For all you care I could have just died while you were gone, just like I almost died in that car accident.”

Shaelynn’s face paled. “Parker!”

He realized he’d gone too far and made an effort to calm himself down. “I’m sorry, but I woke up and you were gone. You have no idea how helpless this chair makes me feel. I can’t even make a damned cup of coffee myself.”

“I’m sorry too.” She went over and knelt beside the chair. “I should have at least left you a note.”

“I was afraid you’d left me for good.”

“I promised I would never leave you,” she reminded him. “Now, did you say you wanted a cup of coffee?”

“I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” she said, climbing to her feet again. “In fact, I just might join you.”

She hurried into the kitchen to start the coffee maker. Behind her, Parker smiled in satisfaction.

Superstitions XI – Itching Palms

Originally, this series was supposed to end with the New Year’s post. But as usually happens when holidays do not conveniently fall on a weekend, my days got kind of mixed up in my head. Yesterday I suddenly realized it was Tuesday and I needed a post for the next day. Oops!

When I did what I thought was going to be a little research, I was surprised at just how many superstitions about itchy palms there are.

Right to receive and left to leave
rub on wood and it's sure to be good,
rub on brass and it will come fast.

The ancient Saxons and Celts believed an itchy palm brought good luck, but if you scratched it the luck would go away. The only way to keep it is to scratch your palm on a piece of wood.

The roots of the superstition can be traced back to the pre-Christian era. The Saxons believed that rubbing silver on your skin was a cure for many diseases, so they would rub an itchy palm with silver. This eventually became the superstition that silver was coming your way. This belief was later adopted by Roman fortune tellers and turned into the version we know today.

If your left hand itches:
- you’re likely to become rich.
- indicates you’ll be on the receiving end of several opportunities.
- means you’ll be on the receiving end of a fight.
- quickly scratch it on wood and you’ll receive money.

If your right hand itches:
- don’t scratch it or you’ll lose money.
- you’ll meet someone new
- you’ll shake hands with a stranger.
- you should clean house – company’s coming.
- a friend you haven’t seen in a long time is coming to pay a call.
- it means you want to give someone a beating.
- news from afar or a letter is coming your way, but you’ll have to spit in your palm to receive it.
- money is coming, but to get it you’ll have to shove your hand in your pocket. If you don’t, the money will never come.

There is also the belief that itchy palms are an indication of some kind of internal energy. The right hand indicates active energy and the left hand is passive, or receptive. So if your right palm itches it means the energy is moving outward, and if the left one is itchy it means you are receiving energy.

Or an itchy palm might just mean you’ve got a bad case of eczema or you’ve touched something you’re allergic to. Better check with your doctor, just in case.

In With the New

As I mentioned last week, I did not start out last year with a set of goals. Now I’m not saying this is what caused the pandemic or anything, but I’m pretty sure it was at least in part the reason why it took me so long to get into the writing swing of things.

So this time, as 2020 started running down, I started thinking more and more about what I wanted from the year ahead. I made lists, and came up with five main goals, and sub-lists of ways to achieve these goals. This is what I came up with:

1. Write More

Kind of self-explanatory. I did a lot of weekly prompt stories last year, but it was a struggle and it didn’t leave anything left for other writing, which is why it took so long to finish Blood Ties. But when I did finally get going on Blood Ties, I really enjoyed myself. So much so that I went ahead with NaNo.

Once upon a different blog, I had links to two very cool writing exercise prompts. The first was One Word, which would generate a single word and give you one minute to write something based on that word. The second was Write Every Day, which would give you a sentence and five minutes to write. Alas, these wonderful writing aids are gone now, but I did a search and found a random word generator that generates as many words as you like. I’m going to set it for three, and give myself three minutes to free-write on a daily basis.

I will also (hopefully) work on Knightsong to get the first draft finished by the end of the year.

2. Edit More

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy editing. Just not my own stuff. LOL

First up is Blood Ties. I’ve already started this and it’s going well. I want to keep up the momentum and finish ASAP.

Next will be An Elemental Spirit. The draft was done for last year’s NaNoWriMo and I haven’t touched it since. It needs a lot of re-writing and I’d like to see that finished by year’s end.

In between novels is my ever-increasing collection of flash fiction that needs to be polished up.

3. Publish More

It should go without saying that I’d like to see Blood Ties released into the wild before the year is over.

I’m also planning on submitting a story or poem for publication on a weekly basis. There’s no point in writing all this stuff and not doing anything with it.

4. Learn More

I’ve collected a lot of information on writing techniques over the years, but mostly I’ve just put it all in folders on my lap top to look at “later.” Well, later never seems to come so I’m going to start going through this pile of information and maybe even take notes.

I also want to take a couple of classes. I really enjoyed the Speculative Fiction classes I took a few years ago – they were both fun and informative. Of course with the pandemic and all these classes will have to be online, but that’s fine by me.

5. Find A Balance

Woman cannot live by writing (and editing) alone, she also needs to read. And I don’t mean the reading binge I was on for the first half of last year, more like an hour or two a day.

I also need to carve out time for my crafts – it’s either that or get rid of my copious amount of craft supplies and I’m not ready for that. I’m also still a member of the Northumberland Stitchery Guild, and when we start meeting up again I don’t want to show up with an empty work bag.

And spending so much time at all these things that are done sitting down, I need to get off my butt once in a while and get some exercise. It might help if I snacked less too.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

So those are my goals for 2021 and how I’m hoping to achieve them. There are some things I’d like to do every day – the three word prompt, editing, reading, and exercising. The rest will take some juggling until I find a workable system.

But I think as goals go this is doable. Only time will tell how doable they are.

Knightsong

I’ll bet you thought I was going to do a Happy New Year post today, complete with my goals for the year ahead, didn’t you? Well ha, ha. I’m saving that one for Sunday because this is Fiction Friday.

But seeing as this is the first day of a brand new year, why don’t we start with a brand new excerpt, one from the novel I hope to finish this year – Knightsong.

A few weeks ago I gave you the opening for Knightsong, introducing the main character, Jaxson Hunter, front man for the imaginary band, the White Knights. If you need to refresh your memory, you can read it HERE .

As you may have guessed, Jax and the woman in blue do end up together, but after a night of steamy sex, he wakes up alone. This scene is actually from the beginning of chapter two, and introduces Jax’s brother, Elijah.

Elijah let the curtain fall back into place and sighed. His neighbours were back from the city and from the smug look on Parker’s face and the defeated slump to Shaelynn’s shoulders, the prognosis from the doctor wasn’t good.

“Looks like good old Parker gets to torment his wife for another few months,” he said to the budgie chirping merrily in its cage.

The budgie chirped one, short burst at him and he couldn’t help but smile in response. He was not normally a negative person, but just the thought of Shaelynn and her situation made him sick at heart.

With another sigh he turned his attention back to his lap top and the website he was working on. The files had finished loading so he closed the folders and opened up a browser. Typing in the address he hit enter and sat back in his chair. The website appeared and he clicked his way through the menus, making sure everything worked properly. Perfect.

It would want to be, this being what he did for a living. It was perfect for him – he could work from home and make his own hours. A little computer repair on the side and he was set. Business was booming and he was good at what he did.

He’d trade it all if only he could help Shaelynn. They’d been best friends since high school and he hated with a passion what was happening to her. The life was being sucked from her and he was helpless to do anything about it, other than be her friend and offer a shoulder for her to cry on.

The ringing of the phone distracted him from his downward turning thoughts. He picked up the old fashioned, wall mounted receiver.

“Hello?”

“Hey bro.”

“Jax!” A smile lit up Elijah’s face. “Where are you? Still on the road?”

“Nah, the tour finished up last week. We’ve got a couple of months of down time before we head back to the studio.”

“Two whole months? I can’t believe it. Whatever are you going to do with yourself,” Elijah asked in amusement.

“I thought I might start by coming out to see you.”

“What?” Eli couldn’t possibly have heard right.

“If that’s okay, that is.”

Jaxson sounded unsure of himself. Eli couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever seen his brother unsure of himself. “What’s the matter?”

“What kind of question is that?” Irritation leaked into his voice. “Can’t a man visit his brother without there being something wrong?”

“Jaxson, how long have I been living here?” Eli paced as far as the phone cord would let him and back again.

“I dunno, two, three years?”

“It’s been five. And in all that time have you ever come to visit?”

“Well, no. Look, if it’s going to be a problem . . .”

“Don’t give me that crap. This is me you’re talking to.” Eli turned to face the window where he had a view of Shaelynn’s house.

Jaxson sighed into the phone. “There was this woman. She—I—I tried to find her . . . I just need to come home for a while. I need my family.”

“You don’t need an invitation,” Eli told him gently. “This is your home as much as mine.”

“Thanks, bro. I’ll be there some time tomorrow. I’ll tell you the whole story then.”

“Looking forward to it. Drive safe, Jax.”

Elijah hung up the phone carefully. Now this was an interesting turn of events. He wondered what it portended.